this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and sue herera. green shoots. the head of the european central bank more upbeat on the economy than quite a while and tells investors something they've been eager to hear. down beat forecast. the world's second largest economy cut growth target to the lowest level in more than 15 years. and now the government has a plan to increase spending. stress test. banks once again under the micro microscope to see if they can stand the market shock. more tonight on "nightly business report" for thursday march 5th. good evening, everyone and welcome. europe. it's been one of the global economies weak spots and today, the head of the european central bank took the next step in his battle against that sluggishness rising unemployment and the risk of deflation in the euro zone.

mario draghi considered confidence in europe something not heard in a while and massive bond buying program will begin in just a few days. today, reaction was in the currency market as the euro fell below the level for the first time in 2003. details on draghi's plan from the european central bank's meeting in cypress. >> finally, going to start the quantitative easing program. it will be next monday. and we also know now that the ecb is also going to buy sovereign debt with negative yield. apart from that mario draghi left the doors open to perhaps even extending the qe program beyond the current planned date of 200616. it will depend on inflation development in the euro zone. but can say that mario draghi is very upbeat about the economic developments here in europe.

now predicting that gdp growth on average will reach almost 2% by next year and deflation will be back close to its target by 2017. ecb is declaring victory without having started the qe program in the euro zone. annette. >> did it give the juice it needs? steve liesman looks at whether draghi got it right and the risks that still remain. >> reporter: the economy has been so tough in europe that the only bulls you can find are like these. the ones in the running of the bulls in spain. but now there are real economic bulls. people not running from a ton of angry feet but who are actually optimistic on the european economy. >> we think qe will work. it will help the exchange rate as the exchange rate moves lower and europe a lot more

competitive. better news in general for the continent. >> reporter: mario draghi announced much anticipated quantitative easing program on march 9th buying 60 billion euros of public and private bonds a month from now until at least september 2016. he said it will turn around the economy and ecb predicting upward growth from the prior forecast. best of european gross since 2011. the 2016 outlook also raised. >> in an environment of improving business and consumer sentiment, the transmission of our measures to the real economy will strengthen contributing to a further improvement in the outlook for economic growth and a reduction in economic slack. >> reporter: this is not the first run of the bulls in europe. there was optimism to be

trampled by anemic growth rising unemployment and economic chaos in peripheral countries like greece. the troubles in greece and possible exit from the euro zone remain a major question mark as do whether concerns from the low rates in the ecb program in europe. draghi said it was part of the solution. >> it is crucial that structural enforce is implemented swiftly, credibly and effectively. if this will not only increase the future sustainable growth of the area but also raise expectations of higher incomes and encourage firms to increase investments today. >> reporter: but european stocks have been on a bull run since january, up 14% compared with just 2% for the s&p 500 in the u.s. whether there's more room to run will depend on wealth not just to the financial sector but the real economy. for "nightly business report,"

i'm steve liesman. >> and joining us now to talk about the ecb meeting and the euro zone is sameer samana. welcome. nice to have >> thanks for having me. >> i guess it's a little too early to sound the all-clear, but this is an improvement in europe overall that a lot of people thought would take a little bit longer to materialize. >> absolutely. we all know the perils of declaring mission accomplished a little too soon but for the first time in a while we've seen expectations have been really low and they've been exceeded. and so you had space for the ecb to surprise which they have. and you've seen some economic data and see the positives in the u.s. maybe use that as a blueprint. unemployment starting to come down. retail sales are starting to go up. business and consumer confidence are starting to improve and most importantly in the euro area inflation expectations are going up. >> so do they need to do quantitative easing? >> you know, they do.

because one of the things that steve mentioned is how there have been some stops and starts over the last few years, so what you need is persistence and even the fed realized that here with the last round of qe is that they needed to have it be open ended in order to make sure people weren't running ahead of them toward some time or date in the future. so draghi having learned from that said time and again, we're going to do this through september 2016 but we will make it go beyond that if necessary. >> you know, steve liesman in his report just a few moments ago mentioned the fact that europe has been outperforming in terms of its stock market's performance compared to the u.s. and some other areas as well. but are earnings strong enough to continue to propel that forward? >> last year was a bit of a disappointment. i think part of that has to do with obviously the dollar falling, or sorry dollar rising as fast as it did. some of the foreign currency falling as fast as it did which reduced the amount of earnings in dollars which is what u.s. investors care most about. i think the pace of currency

appreciation probably slows, i think, because a lot of the quantity tip easing is down and try to sell more stuff, get better margins. so yeah we think this year, we start to see is itthe positive earnings growth reassert itself. >> sameer, if the idea of quantitative easying, is what it took to take the european economy back on its wheels why didn't they do it sooner? i don't mean to be too critical because lord knows it would be pot calling the kettle black with americans criticizing european politics. >> sure. so i think some of it has to do with call it just tradition. there's been a greater fear on the european side as far as inflation and hyperinflation that left a mark because how painful, the u.s. went through something similar in the '70s and '80s. obviously, we're a bit further along from that so maybe the

memories aren't as painful. i think that played into it. the germans want to make sure the currency doesn't weaken too much. that's something that's in their best interest to have a currency somewhat strong. so i think for all the different reasons, the political problems that you mentioned. i think they were a little bit slow to the party. also i think they wanted to see how it would work out in the u.s. and had great results. >> where would you put money to work in europe? you like certain sectors. what countries? >> we like countries that will benefit from the resurgence in overall economic economy but maybe aren't the high flyers that we've seen call it over the past year. germany, the steady eddy industrialized nation. benefitting greatly from the lower euro. the u.k. that has one of the economies, if you talk about outside of the u.s. where there's real areas of strength. and then switzerland. i know there's been a lot of talk how they let unpegged but some are doing well in the current

economy. >> sameer thank you so much. with wells fargo investment institute. to china where the government has lowered the country's growth forecast for 2015. china now says it expects the economy to grow about 7% this year down from last year's 7.5%. lowest economic growth target in 15 years. susan lee now with more from hong kong. >> reporter: this is a new normal in china. we have a chinese consumer league as the national's people congress the mcp expected by the market saying that china's gdp and the target will be set at 7% but then added some vagueness and some uncertainty in the market when the word "around." people are thinking are we going to be gutted down further and could that have a 6% handle in 2016 instead? and increased spending this year 10% more than last year. and going to spend it on

railways. they're going to spend it on water projects. they're going to spend it on agriculture. but they don't want this to be misconstrued as a budget pack e. 1.3%, the widest for china when they had to guide the economy through the global financial crisis and a cash flow. white house's eye is the increase when it comes to military spending up 10% in 2015. really, that's been the trend for the last few years and china is the second largest spender when it comes to expense. for "nightly business report," i'm susan lee in hong kong. stocks broke as investors focused on upbeat news out of europe and in anticipation of tomorrow's jobs report. the dow jones industrial average was 38 points to close at 18,135. the nasdaq 15 points higher and the s&p 500 was up just 2 points. in deal news abvi will buy in oncology and what's expected

to be a blockbuster drug cancer therapy drug. it lessens dependence on arthritis drug from myra. popped 10% while advi fell 5.5%. the u.s. economy saw factory orders fall for the sixth straight month. the commerce department said new orders from manufactured goods slid 2/10 of a percent, and follows revised 3.5% drop in september. it's softened demand in europe and asia. the labor department will release the febr employmt report tomorrow. according to dow jones, non-foreign payrolls expected to increase 240,000, down a little bit from the previous month. economists are looking for the unemployment rate to fall slightly to 5.6% average hourly earnings expected to bump up 0.2% and there are a few things both wall street and main street will be watching for and hampton pearson knows what they are.

>> reporter: bitter wint weathe in much of the country and job losses in the energy sector due to declining oil prices are key reasons why leading economists expect a job growth slowdown in february. nearly 40,000 jobs have been lost in the energy sector in the first two months of 2015. according to a leading job placement firm. >> right now we're seeing in the midst of this expansion one sector going through the change. that's energy. 38% of all cuts right now for the firts two months of the year have come from that sector. >> reporter: today, the labor department tells us first time unemployment claims topped 320,000 last week pushing the moving average back above 300,000. the highest since mid january. earlier in the week a closely watched forecast for private sector job growth showed a gain of 2012,000 jobs down from 250,000 last month. >> we have to see the promise land which is spring i think before we finally start to see

the economy revert to the gross reject ri we have for much of 2014 angd will give us growth over 20% in 2015. >> reporter: when the federal reserve meets in two weeks, sure sign for monetary policy will be a wage growth and rebound in consumer spending but the recent onomic data shows there's still work to do in both categories. for "nightly business report," i'm hampton pearson in washington. and coming up the country's biggest banks undergo stress tests to see if they can withstand a severe recession.

the nation's 31 biggest banks passed a test of how they would fare in an economic crisis. those tests are conducted by the federal reserve and next week we'll be told whether or not they can go ahead with plan to dividend. kayla tausche is with us and has more on results from the test. i think it was encouraging that all of the banks passed but they all kind of got different grades. >> it's encouraging but is it too predictable or easy for banks to figure out what they need to do with their balance sheet but for now, sue, it's good news. all 31 banks representing 80% of global banks assets passing this test which is quite a vote of confidence in the length that they have -- the measures they've taken to build up the capital levels after the crisis. they've come a long way. >> like the common core for bankers. did this make it more likely to be able to pay them?

>> this is only part one of the test. it's a vote of confidence but just that. they all cleared the capital's bar but not including the calculus needed for buybacks for dividends and of course that the first thing the banks had to scrap when they realized they needed the cash. they thought citigroup had enough last year on hand. it wasn't quantitative issue but a quality at a timive issue. they didn't think the risk control, the bank spent the entire last year to fix that but up to the federal reserve at this point. >> are there some banks out there that are viewed as more vulnerable or perhaps less prepared and might not get the okay to issue the dividends and the buybacks? >> it's an interesting question. deutsche bank is undergoing the test and seed car, the capital

processing for the first time. and it's an opaque process. unfortunately, they usually learn things the hard way. allied financial and have a lot of exposure to the subprime auto lending. it's unclear what that will be treated like under these levels and you have a lot of big banks. j.p. morgan citigroup, bank of america, goldman sachs, morgan stanley that have a lot of exposure to capital markets. there was a new test that put a new strain on the capital o markets that brought some of the capital levels down. it could see something where the banks wanted to give back for more money. they don't want it to be predictable. they want banks to have a safe enough balance sheet that no matter what happens, their thank you so much kayla tausche. costco announces a surge in profits and that's where we begin tonight's market focus.

wholesale giant's numbers related to a taxes because of lower fuel prices. the revenue was slightly below estimates but same store sales rose more than expected. the stock almost 3% higher today, finished at $151.17. kroger announced a big pop in earnings. grocery store's quarterlies. full year outlook topping views. shares up almost 7% to $74.31. comments from boeing's chief financial officer told investors that cash flow levels will rise in coming years but investors should expect the gains in the 2015 to come in toward the end of the year not sooner. the stock rose slightly to close at $154.47. >> simon group, according to "the wall street journal." no formal offers but a stake of about 3.5% in the company last

year. shares of simon were down just $187.13. maycher reach. hopefully i pronounced that correctly. and biopharmaceuticals after reassuring news that it backed its injection for double chin reduction saying the benefits for the treatment outweigh the risks. shares soared 25% to $50. and after the bell gap reporting a surprise drop in sales. banana republic divisions saw declines. shares volatile after hours, one point, down more than 2% but before the close the stock was down about 1.5% to $41.43. still ahead, the retirement mistake you don't want to make when planning for your g

if you're thinking of retiring young, you're not alone. new research from boston college's center for retirement research said the average age for women retiring the 62 and for men, it's 64. but is retiring too young harmful to your financial health? let's ask shannon jussi of beacon point advisors. i was reading numbers the other day. couples age 65 today has a better than 2 of 5 chances that one or both will reach age 95. so your money has got to last 30 years in retirement. >> that's absolutely true. so we tell our clients, gosh if you want to retire at 62 you

better have the nest egg in order to do so and with 80% accuracy know their portfolio will last until 95. >> if they do indeed put off retirings retiring re how better is it for them to quantify the advantages of working a little bit longer? >> absolutely. if we've got a client who wanted to retire at age 66, probably better off if you ret 70 he'll receive 25% more in social security benefits and you think about it. during that four year period able to contribute to his 401(k) plan as well and tax deferred assets able to grow in a tax-free way. >> maybe biggest of all, shannon, he's not relying on his portfolio. he's actually building it so he's not drawing money out. >> absolutely. if you want to retire early, they've got two options. either retire early and really

save their portfolio and spend quite a bit less. i would argue saving 30% over the next 30 years is better than taking two years and working longer. >> if you stay employed and your company offers health benefits then you don't have to deal with the fact when you retire a lot uof types, have vastly diminished health benefits for some companies. >> there's no question. that is the single largest expense in retirement that folks often don't take into consideration. so we want to make sure that we model and plan for that for our clients. >> what, shannon, is old rule of thumb, once someone does retire for their portfolio, not to outlive their portfolio, aim to take out roughly 4% a year. are you down with that or is that just a rule of thumb? >> we agree with that rule of thumb, but obviously, it depends on what it's cliche but what their happily are. children's graduation and vacation around the world.

we take that into account. >> what do you feel about the savings rate for most americans today? i think that's one of the most worrisome things. we see some of the figures and people are so underinvested and they have not saved hardly anything towards retirement. >> i think that's the biggest concern. we've got to make sure as we're in our 20s, 30s, 40s, we really start to save early because the wealth in 20s and 30s allows you to save quite a bit less in 40s, 50s, and 60s. >> what sue and i are wondering, whether we can retire in newport beach. thank you so much for being here with beacon point advisers. >> so pretty out there. i'm sure it is. finally, fortune out with the best companies to work for and the ranking includes the best companies for women to work at. the overall list based on factors like trust and sense of mission and here are the top three firms. acuity a private insurer, landed the third spot.

no tuition. and then boston consulting group and google clinched first place. free cafeteria and complimentary laundry service. >> techies do laundry. >> no google does their laundry. that does it for "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm sue herera. we want to remind you, this is the time of year your public television station needs your support. >> i'm tyler mathisen. thank you for your support. we'll see you back here tomorrow .

>> the following kqed production was produced in high definition. [ ♪music♪ ] >> yes, check, please! people. >> it's all about licking your plate. >> the food is just fabulous. >> i should be in psychoanalysis for the amount of money i spend in restaurants. >> i had a horrible experience. >> i don't even think we were at the same restaurant. >> leslie: and everybody, i'm sure, saved room for those desserts